Moon Law Group helps Apollo Beach Cancer Patient fight Condo Association
The Moon Law Group in the News:
RUSKIN, Fla. – Like most dog owners, Pat Picavet thinks the world of her girl, Marley. “This is cliché, but she is like my best buddy,” says Picavet during a game of fetch.
But to Picavet, the chocolate lab is much more than just a pet. The dog helps Picavet get through her toughest days. “She’s very, very special to me,” she says, then laughs when Marley burps in her face.
Laughs like that are mighty important now, because Picavet is battling stage IV breast cancer. The cancer has spread to her bones and doctors can’t say how long she has to live. “I take it day by day,” she says.
To make those days as best as they can be, Picavet’s husband, Herb Grigg, purchased her a condo in Ruskin. It’s a relaxing waterside retreat. “It’s just wonderful. I just love it,” says Picavet from her balcony overlooking Tampa Bay.
How can a Florida attorney assist a veteran with benefits?
We at the Moon Law Group would like to help all veterans with every problem that they may have. We do, however, have to focus on a few key areas where we can make the biggest difference in getting veterans the disability compensation they are owed by the VA.
While we would like to be able to handle initial claims for service-connection, we only have the time to handle veterans benefits appeals, mainly. This means that if you have been denied compensation benefits by the VA and wish to appeal the VA’s decision, you may hire an attorney to handle your appeal as early as at your local regional office. In order to preserve your case, you must file the Notice of Disagreement with your local VA regional office within one-year of VA’s rating decision on your disability claim. Once you have filed your Notice of Disagreement with your local VA regional office, you are then able to hire an attorney to handle your case.
We at the Moon Law Group know the length of time that an appeal can take. Since we are located in the Tampa Bay region of Florida and have an office that is close to the Bay Pines Regional Office, we are able to hopefully provide you with the speedy assistance of reviewing your file without the waiting period of having the VA send the VA regional office claims file to us or to the veteran. This means less waiting time for the veteran’s case.
Veterans: You only have one year to appeal your effective date, a very short time to act…
First, VA really missed something important (a non-debatable error or “clear and unmistakable error”), or second, you “go to the back of the line” and must file a new claim!
There is also reopening the previously denied claim using “new and material evidence,” however, if you reopen your claim, the effective date will be the date the claim was reopened, NOT the date the earlier denied claim’s effective date (ouch!).
If you know or think that your one-year appeal period is ending soon, contact us today and help us help you preserve the date of your original claim!
Expedited social security claims processing available for wounded veterans.
The Social Security Administration has an expedited claims process for wounded warriors. If you are a veteran who became disabled on or after October 1, 2001, then you should be eligible for this program. Remember that the VA claims process is separate than the SSDI claims process.
General Chiarelli talks about the problems and complexities of VA disability evaluation system
Discussed in an article by Elaine Sanchez of the American Forces Press Service entitled, “Wounded Warriors, Families Deserve Best Care, Chiarelli Says,” Gen. Peter Chiarelli outlined the problems that veterans face when seeking disability compensation from the VA. Gen. Chiarelli called the current system “complex, disjointed, hard to understand, and it takes too long to complete.” A major issue that VA faces in their evaluation system, according to Gen. Chiarelli is traumatic brain injury (“TBI”).
TBI evaluation is problematic in the “latency of symptoms” that makes discovering and treating TBI injuries more difficult and take more time to process. While TBI remains a problem for VA, Gen. Chiarelli “praised the creation of the Army’s Warrior Transition Command” and the program’s goal to “foster every individual’s independence.”
According to the article, the DOD and VA will develop a “new Integrated Disability Evaluation System to streamline the delivery of disability services and benefits for wounded, ill, and injured service members.” The new system, if properly implemented would be great if it could assist reducing the time it takes for eligible veterans to receive the compensation owed to them.
According to the article, the average time it takes to receive compensation and benefits is 258 days, with that number reflecting a 48 percent increase in the time it takes to full process claims. DOD and VA will have implemented the new system by October 1, 2011 at 38 Army installations.
In addition, Gen. Chiarelli mentioned the importance of getting the integrated evaluation system implemented in terms of increasing claim processing efficiency. Gen. Chiarelli also said that the military is “working hard” so that Reserve and Guard soldiers are given the same treatment as other service members.
Veteran entrepreneurs get help through Entrepreneurial Bootcamp
According to Donna Miles of the Armed Forces Press Service (see the full article here from Defense.gov, http://www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64871), disabled veterans like Army 1st Sargent Renee Floyd can take advantage of veteran entrepreneurship services.
There is the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp program for Veterans with Disabilities in Tallahassee, FL at Florida State University. FSU is part of a seven school consortium that began in 2001 at Syracuse University in 2001.
According to the article, the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for veterans is a nine-day course that is designed to both start new businesses and grow existing businesses. The course is focused on business issues, like developing a business plan, raising capital, and business operations.
The program is paid for by local universities with funds coming from alumni, entrepreneurs, and local businesses. After the course, participating veterans receive a year further of mentoring and assistance from the program.
Retired Army 1st Sgt. Renee Floyd participated in the bootcamp for veterans with disabilities. Floyd began her business, BRF Mobile Lube Service in Alabama in 2009. Her business is to “[travel] to people’s homes and businesses to provide convenient oil changes and maintenance services.”
According to the FSU program director, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Randy Blass says that entrepreneurship gives veterans an outlet to create an identity for themselves, and to fill a void that simply “getting a job” cannot provide. Further, Blass explains that when veterans leave the military, they can develop a psychological identity problem, which starting a business can help veterans solve such psychological issues.
While the bootcamp is not for all veterans, it does provide a tremendous opportunity for those veterans that are very serious about putting their ideas and skills to work.
Article outlines positive benefits of the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces program, focus on leadership and technical training
According to Lisa Daniel of the Armed Forces Press Service, Army Major General Jon J. Miller discussed the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces program with human resource managers at the Veterans Employment Symposium on July 27 in Washington D.C. The program’s goal is to link employers with qualified veteran job candidates and according to Miller, the hiring of “reservists and veterans is a positive investment for America (see the full Defense.com article here, http://www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64847).”
According to Miller, the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces program acts like a “monster.com,” for all veterans and reservists. Miller noted the wide variety of fields the military trains its soldiers like engineering, logistics, construction, transportation, and health care. Further, Miller noted that the hiring of veterans is smart because of the amount of resources that went into the technical and leadership training the veteran received from the military.
Taking the program a step further, Navy Vice Admiral Kevin McCoy, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command (“NSSC”) discussed with symposium participants the focus of NSSC on hiring “wounded warriors,” and those veterans with a service-connected disability of at least 30-percent. So far, the NSSC hired around 700 wounded warriors since 2009.
VA’s new Supportive Services for Veteran Families program announces $60 million in grants to help prevent homelessness
VA announced yesterday that almost $60 million will go toward homelessness prevention for those veterans having served in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Donna Miles of the American Forces Press Service, the VA has provided in this fiscal year “health care or housing to 140,000 veterans determined to be homeless, at risk of becoming homeless, or who were homeless but have returned to permanent housing” (http://www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64816). The $60 million is the first part of the “VA’s new Supportive Services for Veterans Families program,” according to MIles.
Furthermore, the new program gives the $60 million to “85 nonprofit organizations in 40 states and the District of Colombia to serve an estimated 22,000 homeless and at-risk veterans and their families.” According to the article, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki wants the “Supportive Services” grant money to help organizations “act before a veteran becomes homeless and to target the problem of family homelessness.”
Previously, Secretary Shinseki declared his goal to end veteran homelessness by 2015. Miles’ article explains that Shinseki’s plan is to end veteran homelessness by 2015 through the use of employing better services in the areas of education, employment, and health care.
Extreme Makeover for naval veteran helping homeless women veterans
According to Stephenie Tatum of Fort Bragg Public Affairs for the Armed Forces Press Service, a naval veteran of 15-years named Barbara Summey Marshall was chosen for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, on July 14th. Marshall purchased her Fayetteville, NC, 1,600 square foot home with the goal of housing homeless women veterans. The problem was the house needed serious renovations.
Instead of renovating the home herself, Marshall learned that she would be getting another home built for her. Marshall received another surprise when construction began on her new home with First Lady Michelle Obama congratulating Marshall at the Fayetteville house site. First Lady Obama made the Fayetteville trip as part of the “Joining Forces” initiative, a national program whose goal is to bolster support for service members and their families from more people on the homefront.
In addition to First Lady Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden also travels the country to promote “Joining Forces.” Tatum quotes First Lady Obama talking about “Joining Forces” from an earlier event, saying that “[the "Joining Forces"] campaign is about all of us–all of us joining together as Americans to give back to the extraordinary military families who serve and sacrifice so much every day so we can live in freedom and security.
The above photo comes from the Stephenie Tatum article from the Fort Bragg Public Affairs viewable at this link, http://www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64767.
Women’s Bureau of Department of Labor release “the Trauma Guide” to help homeless women veterans
According to the website for the Women’s Bureau (“WB”) of the Department of Labor (“DOL”), the WB created the trauma guide to help “address the psychological and mental health needs of women veterans” by service providers. The trauma guide is short for “Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Guide for Service Providers.”
As stated on the DOL website, the [trauma] guide offers observational knowledge and concrete guidelines for modifying practices with the goal of increasing re-entry outcomes.” In addition, the DOL website says “the guide is also a compilation of best practices aimed at improving effectiveness in engaging female veterans.”
In order to achieve the guide’s goals of improving care for and “engaging female veterans,” who are more likely than non-veteran women to be homeless, the trauma guide is split in three parts, all of which can be found online at the Department of Labor website.
The first section is the user’s guide, which provides information on the “experiences and needs of female veterans.” The user’s guide additionally gives information on “what it means to provide trauma-informed care,” as well as “resources for staff training and education.”
Furthermore, the trauma guide offers a “manual of best practices that can be integrated into daily programming for homeless female veterans,” as part of the “organizational self-assessment tool for providers serving female veterans.” The third section of the guide contains lists of resources aimed to help service providers become more informed with issues such as, “female veterans, homelessness and trauma, cultural competence, trauma informed services, participant involvement, and self-care.”
For more information on this program to assist homeless female veterans, the following link is to the trauma guide and the website for the Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor, http://www.dol.gov/wb/trauma/.
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